Well an exciting evening for Murphy , of course we still have contact with his mum and dad Bijke and Zico and one of his brothers also called Bijke.. But this evening...... contact from one of his sisters called Brecht..

I wonder if she is as much of a hunter and swimmer as Murphy and Bijke... Loooking forward to finding out.

How lovely! I would love to see what Dens siblings looked like now. We do see his brother from another mother quite frequently as his owners are friends

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We bumped into one of Harri's half brothers a few months ago. You really wouldn't have thought they shared the same sire. The brother was about a month older than Harri but much taller and nowhere near as handsome!

Well it turns out that Brecht is also a smaller dog than many of the (so called) stabijs that are around today. But she isnt a swimmer and she only hunts if she spots birds in open fields.. Amazing that two dogs from the same litter can be so different. Nature or Nurture?

...[sister] Brecht is also a smaller dog than many of the (so-called) stabijs that are around today. But she isn't a swimmer, & only hunts if she spots birds in open fields.
Amazing, that two dogs from the same litter can be so different. Nature or Nurture?
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...[sister] Brecht is also a smaller dog than many of the (so-called) stabijs that are around today. But she isn't a swimmer, & only hunts if she spots birds in open fields.
Amazing, that two dogs from the same litter can be so different. Nature or Nurture?
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They both sound like simple idiosyncratic preferences, something the puppy just discovered as they experienced the world.

- terry

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, the fact is these dogs are built and breed as farm dogs, hunters and are very at home in the water so that is always in them. Bijke lives in a city he sees water when on trips out and then he is very keen to swim but otherwise his life is pavement and city park, Brecht lives in a village with two working owners she hasnt been allowed the freedom Murphy has.

Since he was 12 weeks old we have taken Murphy to the woods, we have thrown a ball into the bushes and said 'find it' he has also been allowed to run free in these areas exposing him to a great deal of small furry things that run and scurry.. we have walked in shallow water and encouraged him to join us, weve taken regular trips to the beach or lake and bought Murphy his own pool.

I think that while the breed has the potental to hunt and swim it is the experience of the dog ie nurture that stimulates those inbuilt traits and brings them to the fore, neither Bijke or Brecht have had those chances so they have not developed them as much as Murphy. a 50/50 situation I think.

I have to say Im rather chuffed this morning. Our normal walk turned out to be an exciting one for me as I managed to capture a bittern as it flew up from the reeds ..Ive never seen one in real life before.. There was aslo a bird of prey that flew out from a low tree and made us jump and some herons just wandering along the path..

Oooh help big square monsters lurking inthe field waiting to eat us.....
Murphy had never seen a hay bale up close before and he took about 5 minutes of convincing that they were ok before he would go near to it.. Then he really relaxed.. The real test will come tomorrow when I see if he has accepted them as part of the scenery or if he needs the intro all over again... Benny was awful and barked at heach and every bale every time he saw them....But thats beagles for you.

We also had a pair of strange walking companions who were out for a stroll...

From Murphy... * Our fundraiser is doing well and is more than halfway to our target but mum is taking drastic action... This evening a man is coming to buy her camera... I might never be seen again ! Help..*
Murphy's fundraiser for All Dogs Matter

We had a lovely walk this morning and arrived home to see that our target for the fundraiser has been reached ( and a bit extra) which is such wonderful news. .. I dont think I could bear anymore bad news atm